It is impossible to tell which of the two dispositions we find in men is more harmful in a republic, that which seeks to maintain an established position or that which has none but seeks to acquire it.
—Niccolò Machiavelli, c. 1515Quotes
To be turned from one’s course by men’s opinions, by blame, and by misrepresentation shows a man unfit to hold office.
—Quintus Fabius Maximus, c. 203 BCPolitics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them.
—Paul Valéry, 1943I shall be an autocrat: that’s my trade. And the good Lord will forgive me: that’s his.
—Catherine the Great, c. 1796The best of all rulers is but a shadowy presence to his subjects.
—LaoziThe tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.
—Thomas Jefferson, 1787Let him who desires peace prepare for war.
—Vegetius, c. 385Every communist must grasp the truth: “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.”
—Mao Zedong, 1938My people and I have come to an agreement that satisfies us both. They are to say what they please, and I am to do what I please.
—Frederick the Great, c. 1770The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure it is right.
—Judge Learned Hand, 1944The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
—H.L. Mencken, 1921Politics is the art of the possible.
—Otto von Bismarck, 1867What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him your celebration is a sham.
—Frederick Douglass, 1855